Final thoughts

We asked the children what their favourite thing about the visit to France, these were their replies;
"The market challenge because it was fun and exciting.  We won and we beat Mr Mitchell!" Chloe
"The market challenge, fun, exciting and good team work." Farrell
"I enjoyed the meringues at the market." Ryan
"I loved the sharks at the aquarium in Nausicca." Isobel
"The adventure playground, I have never been to one and loved the freedom of it!" George

"The goats, especially stroking them, they kept licking my shoes." Lauren
"My favourite was the market challenge.  It was fun to speak French!" Lucy
"I liked all of it, the aquarium was the best especially touching the stingrays and seeing the sea lion show." Archie
" I was very interested in the WWI quarries and tunnels." Lol
"Ooh that is hard, I loved the aquarium stroking the stingrays and seeing the fish close up." Sam
"The adventure playground, it was fun, I went around 7 times!" Eleanor
"Going in the trenches, it was a new experience. The German trenches were much better because they were trained soldiers " Lewis
"All of it! I've learnt so much about everything!" Patrick
"Going on the beach, running up and down, getting splashed by the waves with our shoes and socks off." Gabby
"The market, talking to French people, we got a bargain" Ben
"The aquarium because I liked stroking the sting rays" Amy
"I have never milked a goat before and making the bread was good" Jack

Our Last Day In France

What a fantastic last day in France. We spent an hour at the market buying our picnic lunch. We then went back to the Chateau for our lunch and a game of footaball. After lunch we walked to the adventure playground and then to a cafe for an ice cream and onto the beach to play by the sea. The day finished with our French night when we dressed up as French people and ate snails and frogs legs. Last of all we had a disco and then went to our bedrooms to pack for our early start in the morning.

Day 3

Today has been another action packed day in sunny France.  Following a hearty breakfast we set off to the cider farm where we learnt all about how they press apples to make cider, brandy and cider vinegar.  From there we visited a local war cemetery where we identified different regiments that had taken part in WWI and WWII.  We noticed how beautiful the cemetery was kept with its immaculate gravesones lined up like soldiers on parade.  We looked at the register of the fallen men and some of the children identified soldiers from Cheshire, including some familiar surnames.  We gathered together in the lovely sunshine and remembered those men who gave their life for ours, whilst Mr Chadwick from Seabridge Primary school played the 'Last Post' and 'Reveille' on his bugle.  George represented Shavington by laying a poppy cross on the memorial.  It was a very special moment.  Following a lovely picnic on the grass, and a little free time, we headed off to the goat's cheese farm where we were fortunate to make our own bread, pain au chocolate and croissants.  The lady baked them in a traditional clay oven whilst we had a little walk to visit a 'Hansel & Gretal' style guest house.  Upon our return we ate our freshly baked bread and were then hearded into a cattleshed with several goats and their kids.  This was extremely amushing and caused a great deal of hilarity, with goats eating anything in sight!  The children then had the opportunity to milk a goat, leaving the milk for the local cats.  Lauren and Isobel were naturals!  We ended a perfect day with a perfect meal at a French restaurant, a quick run on the beach and off to bed.

Photos day 1 & 2 in France

Hi everyone. What a great day we have had in France. We woke up when Mr Mitchell, Mrs Nicholls and Mrs Kinsey knocked on our doors. We had gone to bed lateish and slept right through until 7.15am. For breakfast we had french bread, butter, jam and cereals. We could have juice or hot drinks. Some of us had hot chocolate which was lovely.

After breakfast we got all our things together for our first full day in France. We all walked into the small village of Criel Sur Mer which took us about five minutes. We then in our groups brought postcards and stamps to send home. The best bit was going to the patiserrie and buying a cake. Our group teacher very kindly bought us any cake we wanted in the shop. We all agreed they were all lovely.

Once we had finished our cakes we got back onto the coach and headed for Arras. We arrived just before lunch which we had on the grass outside the underground tunnels we were going to visit. Lunch was a ham bagette, cheese, crisps and lovely sweet waffle and an orange. We could have juice or water to drink. We had a run around on the grass to stretch our legs.

We went into the tunnels in group. We had to go down in a lift 20 m below ground. It was very dark and some of us were a little frightened to start with. However once our eyes got used to the dark we started to enjoy the tour. At one point during the first world war 24,000 soldiers were billetted underground for a week. The tour took us about an hour and we found out lots about the soldiers that had dug the tunnel and those that lived in it. During WW2 it was used as a huge underground air raid shelter. We all really enjoyed the visit.

After that we got back on the coach and went to look at some WW1 trenches. We walked in the Allied and German trenches and we were told of the horrible conditions the soldiers lived in. The trenches were only 20 metres apart!! The land around the trenches was made up of lots of bomb craters. We found the whole experience really informative. We then got back on the coach and watched "Tangled" on a DVD. We had some sweets and a drink each.

When we got back to the Chateau we had our dinner of salad ,beetroot salad , chicken and chips and finshed with cheese and yogurt. After dinner and before bed we played on the football pitch under the floodlights.

We are looking forward to making bread and cheese tommorow and going to the restaurant for our dinner.

We are experiencing technical difficulties with uploading our photo's we'll keep trying.

Year 5 First day in France

Year 5 left England at some ridiculous time in the morning heading for sunny France!  We were all very excited especially as we saw the White Cliffs of Dover.  At this point we launched into a rendition of the White Cliffs of Dover however Mr Mitchell thought it was bluebells over rather than blue birds.

We had an excellent ferry crossing full of excitement and lots of giggles.  When we arrived in France the children spotted many things that were different and many things that were the same.  We stopped off at a fabulous aquarium to see; sharks, penguins, sea lions and also we were able to stroke the stingrays.  From there we headed for the Chateau.

We have had an OUTSTANDING first day completed by either archery or fencing.  We are all now sleeping, well at least we are supposed to be!  By the way you may want to know a very important piece of information. Mr Mitchell is now manager of the month on the fantasy football!!!!  We have not heard the end of it!

Looking forward to another action packed day tomorrow.